The Bridesmaid Encounter
by httpshamy
Summary: It's Leonard and Penny's wedding day and Sheldon is struggling with his emotions once again. Will he be forced to move away to let Lenny enjoy their wedding life? But right in the moment everything seems lost, he bumps into a beautiful bridesmaid of Penny's who will suddenly make things better...or worse.
1. The Wedding Preparations

Sheldon looked at his reflection on his mirror in his bedroom's closet. He glanced at his whole figure, studying every single detail of the suit he was wearing.  
The black shiny tie perfectly matched with his white shirt he meticulously buttoned up to his throat, the black satin jacket and the pants of the same colour took shape of his thin body.

After mirroring for the last time, he got out from the room and headed to the living room of his apartment.  
That was a special day, and for he hated special days, this time he was forced to join it.  
Leonard ran to the livingroom, holding with both his hands an untied bowtie and a tie and placed himself in front of his friend, showing them to him.

"Which one's better? Tie or bowtie?" He asked.  
"I don't know... your choice. It's not my fault if you're still uncertain about what wearing on your wedding day."  
"God Sheldon, not now. It's not time for sarcasm. Help me, damn it!"

The theoretical physicist rolled his eyes and looked at the two accessories he was holding, pointing at the bowtie.  
"Put that on, I'm already wearing the tie. You don't want other people to pay less attention to me in your wedding day!"  
Leonard sighed and nodded, thanking his friend.  
"Rather, tell me why you have to act indifferent even on the most important day of my life."  
Leonard ran to his room to settle his bowtie and rose his voice so Sheldon could hear him.

"I thought the most important day of your life was when you met me... but it's okay. " Sheldon and his ego left the apartment right in the moment when Leonard walked back in to reply to what he said. He quit the room slamming the door, without any apparent reason.

Sheldon sat down on the fourth floor stairs with his head into his hands and a vacuous, absent minded glance. He didn't even know why he was there all alone, without inform Leonard about where he was going.  
However Leonard wouldn't have gone after him, knowing he couldn't have been that far: he couldn't drive, he was well dressed and he wouldn't have let his special occasion shoes get dirty, even more so in that moment when the rain was pouring down since the night before.

In the meanwhile, Sheldon's mind travelled at the speed of light, thinking about all the most important moments he had lived is his perfect scheduled life, without any exception.  
This wedding would surely have messed things up: he wasn't ready and he probably wouldn't have ever been.  
When he knew about Leonard and Penny's wedding he ran away from home. He travelled all around the States by train, without having a proper destination. He only needed to take his own way and think through.  
Though this time was different. He promised Leonard he was going to take part to his wedding and not to disappear, like he did the year before.

The physicist got up and decided to go to Penny's apartment.  
He could've been sincere with her - or he could've just tried.  
He always struggled with his emotions and hated talking about those with other people, though this seemed the only thing to do.

Knock, knock, knock "Penny"

Knock, knock, knock "Penny"

Knock, knock, knock "Penny"

Penny was getting mad over her bridal dress so, exhausted, she opened the door and greeted Sheldon with the most annoyed voice.  
"Hi. What's up?"

Sheldon, on the other side of the door, glanced at the girl and studied her in her bridal white dress. "Oh hello! First of all, social conventions dictate that I have to congratulate for your dress' choice, so: you're really nice! Second, can I come in? I need to talk to you."

Hearing Sheldon's worried voice tone she foresaw someting bad, so she completely opened the door letting him in.  
"Is everything alright?" She closed the door and she saw Sheldon entering her apartment.  
Before restarting to speak, she rapidely shook her head, leading her hand on the forehead.  
"God, I almost forgot! Girls this is Sheldon. Sheldon these are Amy and Bernadette."

Penny's friends stood frozen behind the kitchen island, staring at the whole scene. Sheldon rose his head and focused on the two girls.  
The first one, a blondie, wearing rectangular red glasses and a short fuchsia dress, smiled at Sheldon and greeted him with a feeble voice.  
The second one strangely left Sheldon speechless: an averagely tall woman, with straight dark brown hair leaning down her shoulders, rectangular glasses and a long bordeaux dress which made her green eyes look brighter.  
The woman gazed back and smirked at him, greeting as Bernadette did.

Sheldon didn't say anything for a while, under Penny's dazed glance who now stood up in front of the door pleasingly watching the scene.  
As she soon noticed Sheldon's interest towards the two girls, she was tempted to leave the room, so she could've been able to give them some privacy.

After a long awkward silence, the physicist went on talking "Doctor Sheldon Cooper, theoretical physicist at Caltech, specialized in the string theory field." The guy approached the kitched island as he waited for them both to meet him and reached his hand out to shake the brunette's one, completely ignoring the other one who coldly glanced at him.

"Doctor Amy Farrah Fowler, neurobiologist." She said, as professionally as he did.  
She shook his and as she came across his gaze, trying to conceal the smirk she forced when she saw him enter the room.  
The blondie, thinking it was her turn to talk, opened her mouth to introduce herself "Bernadette Rostenkowski-"  
"Pleasure." He coldly answered, without even look at her.

He didn't actually know what was happening, he only figured out all his worries were gone and now he was all alone, facing a new big problem: why was he behaving in such an unusual way? He suddenly felt a strange connection with that woman, since the first moment he walked in. Though he was really scared of admitting it, the woman aroused in him a certain interest. Maybe that was because of her firm way of behaving, or because of her incisive glance...or just because she seemed interested too.  
Or maybe she was just pretending. That had to be how it worked for women: they acted like they cared about you, but suddenly waited for you to show up all of your weaknesses to attack you. His mother was right - love affairs were a big deal.  
But he was sure, on the bottom of his hidden heart, that he wanted to know better the woman opposite him. That was maybe because she was a scientist like him - that had to be a sign for him to make the first move.  
But no, Sheldon wasn't like that. Maybe all he had to do is getting to know her as a friend and share with her all his acknowledge in physics field.

Penny was the one who broke the awkward silence in the room, clearing her throat and approaching them all. "So Sheldon...what did you want to tell me?"  
"Why haven't you ever told me about Doctor Fowler?" he said, turning around and ignoring her question.  
"Well, 'cause, as a matter of fact, I am not supposed to introduce all of my friends. Anyway...what do you want?" she insisted once again.

Sheldon finally looked at Penny, as if he had just awaken from his trance. What was happening? Why were everybody looking at him in that way? Was he oddly behaving? Too many questions, so few answers.  
"Oh...right. I wanted to talk privately but, as I can see, you're not alone. So, let's postpone our talk to when you're already married and it will be too late." He went on, heading to the door to open it.

Penny arched her eyebrows and stopped him, grabbing his arm so he was forced to face her.  
"W-wait! Where are you going? We could always go in my bedroom and talk, sweetie." she tried to find a solution but he seemed so determined in quitting the apartment.  
"Don't worry." after saying this, he opened the door and left the house.

* * *

10.30 a.m. Two hour left to the ceremony and Penny was ready, sitting on her couch and staring at the white wall opposite her.  
Sheldon was gone without saying anything, and she couldn't feel more upset. The wedding, Sheldon's strange behavior, Sheldon who seemed interested in social meetings...of all the weird things that could ever happen in her life, she was quite sure this one was the oddest.  
 _Why are you worried? Come on, this has to be one of the same old Sheldon's excuses to talk about something stupid.  
_ She kept repeating this in her mind, trying to pull bad thoughts away.

Amy and Bernadette reached her on the couch, sitting next to her, careful not to crease her bulky bridal dress.  
"Hey, are you okay?" the brunette asked and, worried, she put her hand behind her back.  
"Don't say you've changed your mind..." Bernadette added.  
Penny smiled, shaking her head. "No girls, I promise. I still want to marry Leonard. I'm just so nervous. Some time ago I was the glee jovial Penny who chased after cute guys, and now I'm here stuck in my living room wearing a wedding dress. Guess I've found the cute one to chase after for the rest of my life. That's strange." she laughed, watching her friends.

"Strange, yes, but in a positive way. You are beautiful. Leonard really cares about you. It's normal to be nervous so don't worry. Everything's gonna be fine."  
"Bernadette's right, and anyway we'll be there for you - as we're your bridesmaids." Amy squeaked, pointing at her tiara she gently put on her hair.

Penny rolled over to look at her and sighed. "Oh...you put it! Great..." Penny tried several times to take that tiara away from her, but she was so obstinate in keeping it.  
"See, this is the first time someone chooses me to be her bridesmaid, so I can wear everything I want to." she replied, rising from the couch and holding with both her hands the tiara she was so proud of.

"And Penny...but...what about Sheldon?" she bit her lip as she reached the fridge to take a bottle of water.  
"Oh well...Sheldon." she rolled her eyes, forcing a fake smile and nodding to her friend.  
"Yes, Sheldon." Bernadette added, in a bothered way.  
"Come on girls...Have you noticed how he shook my hand? And how he introduced himself?" she euphorically went on.  
"Uh yeah, how he shook your hand...yeah..." Penny joined Amy in the kitchen, pretending to be interested in that strange conversation.  
"I don't like that weirdo. You saw...he knocked three times. Why did he knock three times?" Bernadette said, twisting her lips.

"Oh, that is my last problem. Anyway I'm mad at Penny for not having introduced him to me. I mean, a guy like that has been living opposite you for three years and you didn't tell me anything?"

"Yeah." Penny sarcastically answered, filling a whole glass of wine.  
Amy turned around to face her, arching her eyebrows and shaking her head. "I'm sorry but...wine? Now?"  
"I'm gonna need it. This is gonna be a long day."

* * *

"Can you explain me why the hell you left before? Should I worry?"

Leonard gazed at Sheldon enter their apartment, while he was sitting on the sofa lacing his shoes.  
"I needed time for thinking." he firmly answered, aiming to his spot, without adding anything else.  
"Did it work?"  
"Not at all. Though I knew a woman in Penny's house."  
"Oh, so you needed time to think through all alone and you got to Penny's, yeah." This time Sheldon got the sarcasm in Leonard's voice tone, so he tried to avoid any kind of inappropriate comment. "Anyway...Penny said something about one of her friends from Nebraska coming over for the ceremony and moving to Pasadena. Maybe one of her bridesmaids. Well...How did she seem to you?"  
"Not that tall, dark straight hair, green eyes...a classical woman, you know." Sheldon raised his eyes to meet Leonard's and nodded, waiting for him to metabolize what he just said.  
He didn't exactly know why, but it seemed like he was describing a sort of divinity.  
Sheldon Cooper did not think about women _that_ way, but this time it was unacceptable for him to move her to the background and compare her to all the other women.  
She was different, and a part of him hoped that Leonard would notice.  
But he didn't seem to understand since he got up and sighed, looking at Sheldon with one of his _you are the same old weirdo_ glances.

"Howard and Raj are on their way. We should get there before Penny does." Leonard then said.  
"Oh, it won't be a problem. We all know delay isn't a big deal for her."

The physicist smiled at Sheldon's words, starting to go back and forth anxiously across the room, trying to let off some steam.  
"Why do you do that?" Sheldon naively asked while observing him.  
"Well, I'm nervous. How do you cool down?"  
"I'm never tense. I don't care what people think about what I do or how I feel. At the end of the day it's your wedding and unless you do something to mess things up, it will be right."  
"Thanks bud." Leonard smiled at Sheldon's attempt to reassure him, so she bent over him to give him a friendly pat on his back.

So it was happening for real. Leonard and Penny were about to get married and Sheldon would've ended up living all alone in the middle of nowhere in Pasadena, or - so much worse - he would've come back to Texas.  
Though there was something, something brand new which diverted his attention somewhere else. Something about Amy Farrah Fowler, the girl he met before.  
Why her? Sheldon was good at so many things, but he felt like he wasn't able to explain what he experienced a couple of minutes before.  
However he was certain he would've gone after this problem, because nothing could confuse his mind; his brain was fully functional and fully able to solve any kind of dilemma.

Well...maybe any kind but that.


	2. The Harp Recovery

**Hello everyone! I made this intro just to thank my dear friend Viki for helping me through the writing of this chapter. Her hints have been such a blessing to me! Hope you enjoy the chapter!  
-Ella.**

Sheldon hated churches and, at the same time, he couldn't conceive the idea of accepting any kind of god as creator of the whole universe. Everyone knew him for being cynical and skeptical but, beyond this, there was another reason why he'd rather go back home. In that moment, that was the place where his worst nightmare was up to come true.

He stood up in front of the building, holding a black umbrella over his head, careful not to get wet: the rain wouldn't stop that day, it dimmed the sight for it was really thick. Howard's car was parked one block away from where they stood as the traffic was overwhelming, and this forced them to walk through a whole block, under the pouring rain. Now that they had arrived to their destination, they stayed like stuffed mannequins in a shop window, each one under his own umbrella, waiting for - who knows _who_ or _what_.

Raj was the first to speak, breaking the silence "Your time has come, bud. How do you feel about that?"  
Leonard twisted his lips and, without blinking, he stared right opposite him."It's strange. I feel a little sick, but I guess it's okay."  
"Sorry if I interrupt your lovely conversation, but may I notice that we have been standing here under the rain for one minute and I'm starting to feel the first flu symptoms?"  
"God Sheldon, yes. Let's go." Leonard rolled his eyes and dragged himself to the church, followed by his three friends.

"Not to be fussy, but you do not want to get ill on your wedding day." Sheldon added, once he entered the building, closing his umbrella and shaking the excessive water off his long raincoat. Leonard Howard and Raj had just given their raincoats to a tall guy who suggested them to follow him.  
"This doesn't look like a catholic church." Sheldon whispered to Howard, while they followed their temporary guide in a row.  
"It isn't. They'll get married following the protestant ritual but at the same time they wanted to please Penny's mother who wanted them to marry in a church." he stated.  
"Why didn't I know that?"  
"Well, 'cause every time Leonard tried to tell you, you changed topic and said that talking about religion was a loss of time."  
"Guys!" Leonard scolded them, hearing Howard's voice tone growing high.

After few seconds, they reached the room where they would've stayed for the rest of the time before the actual wedding started, waiting for the guests and the bride to arrive.  
"Here we are." Leonard said, going towards the only looking glass in the room.  
He mirrored, settling his hair with his hands and thanking God he didn't get his suit ruined despite the rain.  
"Bud...I'm almost more excited than you are!" Raj approached him, resting one hand on his shoulder and smiling at him as encouragement.  
"Well, I didn't think I was going to be that anxious." Leonard slipped his finger under his suit's neckband, feeling the need of more oxygen.

"Hey..everything's gonna be fine. Right Sheldon?" Howard joined them two, trying to get the physicist's attention who didn't seem to hear him. "Sheldon?" He tried again, rolling over to see what he was doing. This time, the theoretical physicist remained motionless in front of the semi-opened door, staring at the other side of the hallway.

There was a tiny crowd of people – all of them were females – who stayed opposite one closed door, probably waiting for someone to open it.  
Sheldon took a step forward and, clutching a side of the door to have a better vision of the scene, he recognized her.  
Amy Farrah Fowler, with that bordeaux dress and her rectangular glasses...and a tiara which Sheldon didn't seem to remember her wearing before, thanks to his eidetic memory.  
He opened the door even further to see her better: she was smiling and talking with some girls.  
Sheldon found her cute, but he was forced to get rid of that thought because it was too much for him. This time he took a step back, accidentally dragging the door with him, which creaked catching Amy's attention.  
He deeply hoped she hadn't heard anything but, when he rose his eyes in her direction, he met her gaze.  
Sheldon almost fell on the floor for the surprise; _what could she have thought? That he was a stalker? That he was crazy?_ Otherwise she shyly smiled at him, supporting his look.  
Sheldon was paralyzed and, maybe to break that awkward moment or maybe because he didn't exactly know what to do, he raised one hand to greet her and forced a smirk.  
Amy laughed but he was forced to move away to allow Penny's arrival.

Sheldon slammed the door, leaning on it and wincing as he heard Howard calling his name."Bride! Twelve-twelve o'clock. She was passing and I slammed the door." he told, resting his hand on his chest.  
"Are you sure it was Penny?" Howard maliciously said, noticing the glances he was sending to someone in the crowd.  
"I saw a woman with a white bridal dress and a bouquet. Who was she? That had to be your mother for sure Howard!" He sarcastically said, approaching them.  
"And what about the girl you were looking at?" Raj added, giving him a pat on his back. "Oh, Sheldon's scored!" he went on, winking at him.  
"Probably she's the same girl he knew this morning, Penny's bridesmaid." Leonard interrupted them, while loosening his bowtie to breathe better.

"I wasn't staring at anyone! By the way I saved your life, Leonard. Penny was passing, you could've seen her!" he continued, trying to change topic.  
"Yes, yes...Sheldon, you dog!" the groom laughed, walking away from the mirror and restarting to go back and forth, like he did before at his home.  
"Apparently, this wedding is becoming more and more interesting even for our Doctor Sheldon Cooper..." Howard added, rubbing his hands. "I'm really curious to see Sheldon make the first move."  
"Well, I'm not doing anything, Wolowitz."  
"According to the circumstances, I think she will be the one to make the first move." Leonard interrupted them, implying a tiny smile.  
"Come on guys, we don't have to talk about it right now. Leonard will go to the altar in a while and he's not even fainted-"

A knock on the door interrupted them. They looked at each other with an interrogative glance: it was too early for them to enter the main room and welcome the guests, so they wondered who was at the door.  
"Who's there?" Leonard asked.  
"I'm Amy, Amy Fowler, Penny's bridesmaid. Can I come in? Technical problems."

After hearing her name, Sheldon winced. Amy again? There were two possibilities: that woman keep harassing him or the doom planned that every time they had mentioned her, she would have showed up.  
 _Doom?_ Sheldon Cooper did not believe in that kind of things. What was wrong with him? Maybe he just had to stop overthinking and let her in.  
"Yes, come in." Leonard answered, maliciously gazing at Sheldon who also noticed the amused Howard and Raj' s smiles.

The door opened and Amy showed up on the doorstep, scanning them all from head to toes. When she met Sheldon's look she blushed, suddenly looking somewhere else to avoid any kind of uneasiness.  
"I'm sorry for interrupting, Penny made me come. Unfortunately the guy who was supposed to play the harp didn't feel very well and let us down." she went on, addressing to Leonard.  
"So we won't have any bridal march?" he was really worried, so he took a step forward to face her and he hoped with all his heart that she figured out a solution.  
"You'll have a bridal march. I...took harp lessons and I volunteered for replacing him. But..there's another tiny problem. I really do feel embarrassed for asking that, since I don't know any of you...well, the harp is at my place and it's too heavy to carry all by myself. Does someone please want to help?" she rested her hand on the jamb of the door, hoping for someone to volunteer. She didn't want to be oppressive and although she really wanted to be useful and go taking the instrument on her own, she did know that was too much for her to hold up; on the other side, she didn't want to bother anyone for she hated feeling that lumbering.

The guys were looking at each other and remaining silent to valuate the situation, when Howard spoke first. "Hey Sheldon, why don't you go with her?"  
If it had been possible to kill someone with just the power of a single glance, then Howard would've been dead. Sheldon looked at him with the most furious gaze, clenching his lips and staring right into his eyes just to plead him to deny what he said.  
"Yes bud, go with Amy. I'd go with her but I can't and Howard and Raj promised me to help with guests' acceptance in half an hour. Be careful guys, see you at 12.30! Possibly on time!" Leonard, satisfied for the excuse he made up, pushed Sheldon towards Amy and smirked. Right in the moment when he met Sheldon's gaze he mimed with his lips a "Go!" and fired him.

The theoretical physicist couldn't stand back, so he approached the woman and awkwardly smiled at her, nodding. "Come on." he only said, opening the door and going ahead. Amy turned around just to smile at the three guys in the room and then she closed the door behind her, following him.

* * *

"That is my car."  
Sheldon and Amy left the building and now were heading to the woman's car. They both kept silent for a while, not exactly knowing how to start the conversation.  
Amy occasionally glanced at him, however he seemed impassible. He noticed her behaving and despite he really wanted to talk to her the only words he succeeded in saying were "Mind the gap"  
Needless to say that the guys made him feel really uncomfortable.

Then there was Amy. She wanted to speak too, but she felt the embarrassment weigh on her more than Sheldon did.  
Once they got to her car, she opened the small door on the driver side and bent over to sit down, holding her tiara with both her hands not to let it fall on the ground.  
Sheldon sit on the passenger seat and rolled over to face her, focusing on her silver little crown.

"I haven't seen you wearing that before. Is it a Penny's gift?" he naively asked.  
"What?" she answered frowning; then she figured out he was alluding to her tiara. She smiled and ran her hand on her hair while turning on the car engine.  
"Oh my tiara! Well...that was one of my grandmother's degree presents. I didn't know when I could put it on...guess I found the right occasion!" she joyful said.  
"I have a lovely grandmother too! I call her Meemaw, and she always gives me presents. She gave me a Batman costume at my degree party. You know, when you're 14 you only think about superheroes..." he smiled.

Amy almost fell off the seat. Has he just said fourteen?  
"I'm sorry, did you say fourteen years old?"  
"Yes, I took my degree when I was fourteen. Well, fourteen and a half. I skipped some school years, I was too much for public schools."

Amy bit her lower lip and watched him speechless. In her car was sitting a physics genius who was talking to her and who would've entered her house in such a short time. Could it be better?  
"W-wow Sheldon. I didn't know that. You must be really clever." she said with a big smile, continuing to drive and watch the road in front of her.  
"Clever?!" Sheldon said in a scorbutic way. "My roommate is clever, my mother's cat was clever. I am far more than intelligent. I'm a genius. My IQ is 187. Do I seem clever now?"  
Amy swallowed. How was that possible for her to be bad even at doing compliments? She looked at him for one second and bit the inner part of her cheek, restarting to watch the road.  
"I'm...I'm sorry I didn't think I could offend you. To be honest, I never doubted about you being a genius. 187...I'm impressed."

"And you?" he asked, interrupting that awkward moment.

"Me what?"

"When did you take your degree?"

"Well...I was 21. I took my PhD when I was 26. I can imagine you taking yours when-"

"Sixteen." he interrupted her.

"Sixteen..." she repeated almost with no voice.

They reached their destination five minutes later. Amy got out of the car and put the keys on her handbag, pointing him out to follow her.  
"I found this apartment" she said once she got into the building with him and started climbing the stairs. "It wasn't that expensive and it's suitable for my needs."  
She brought him in front of the door of her small apartment and started searching for her keys on the bag she was carrying.  
"And...If I may...which are your needs?" he curiously asked her.  
"Living in a place which is close to where I work." she said, inserting the key in the lock and finally opening the door.

The first thing Sheldon noticed when he went in was that little monkey standing on a piece of furniture next to the couch. He was smoking a cigarette and this caught his attention, as he took a step closer to have a better vision.  
"Please don't be bothered by him. We're taking notes of the monkeys' feedback on the use of nicotine." she said as she saw him approaching her pet.  
"Is the feedback positive?" he went on asking, observing the monkey.  
"Not at all. The same symptoms as the ones for human addiction to cigarettes has been detected." she added, aiming to her bedroom. "Follow me, the harp is on the other room."  
Sheldon went after her and entered her bedroom, when he saw it: there was a huge sized golden harp standing opposite her bed.  
Amy turned around just to see Sheldon's face changing expression. "I'm sorry for that, but we must hurry 'cause it would take while." she shyly said, putting both her hands on the instrument.  
Without saying anything, Sheldon made another step forward just to hold the harp on the opposite side and they both held it up.  
"Oh boy." he whispered as they started walking across the room.  
"This isn't gonna be easy at all. But we are gonna make it, I promised." Amy tried to console him. She thought he was being really helpful and for a moment she was afraid of not being able to return the favor.

They continued walking until they reached the door and Amy pointed him out to put the instrument on the floor so she could've been able to open it.  
It took them minutes to quit the apartment and reach the stairs; they were already tired of carrying that harp since their arms were hurting so bad.  
"Let's stop." Amy breathed after going down on the first staircase. Sheldon nodded and without thinking twice they put it on the ground.  
"You should have chosen a building with an elevator provided." the theoretical physicist sat on a stair to recover some oxygen and was surprised when Amy sat down next to him, smoothing her dress with her pale hands.  
They remained silent for a couple of seconds before Amy opened her mouth to thank him for his effort. "I'm sorry I haven't thanked you yet."  
Sheldon faced her, meeting her incredible green eyes which now where so close to him like never before. He wouldn't have admitted it so easily, but he was quite sure he enjoyed spending a little bit of his time with her, despite all the strain he felt.

"I don't know how you're gonna return the favor." he uttered with a low pitched voice, as he actually heard her swallow. Amy was still sto close to him she could feel his breath while speaking and that encouraged her to gaze at his mouth.  
"I-I'm sure I'll have the chance..." she murmured as she moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue.  
"You will for sure." he said, studying her figure with his eyes and going on. " _There are some things I desperately need which only a woman has experience about._ "


	3. A Wet Wedding Part 1

**_12:00 pm._** The fateful hour was approaching and Leonard couldn't be more nervous. He has been waiting for that moment forever and now that this was getting real it scared him like nothing before. According to what his friends have been telling him since the first time he proposed, that moment would've radically changed his life. Maybe that was getting tougher and tougher just because his best friend wasn't there with him in that moment. For how Sheldon could be really challenging sometimes, Leonard couldn't deny he was his anchor in his darkest times: his obstinacy, his rudeness, his pragmatism made everything easier and forced anyone to focus on something else.

But this time the groom was even more worried since he got two things to be frightened about: first of all his wedding, second the fact that Sheldon wasn't answering the phone.

"Oh man, not now." he cursed everything which came through his mind, he cursed that damn day, he even cursed himself. How could it be possible he felt like dying in his wedding day? In that moment all he wanted to do was being bothered by one of Sheldon's inappropriate monologues, just to let go his worries.

"What happens?" Howard entered the room right in the moment when Leonard called out Sheldon's name.

"Sheldon doesn't answer the phone, damn it." he went on.

"Hey it's alright. Think about what he can be doing. If you know what I mean..." Howard maliciously said, glancing at him with his same old habitual malicious look.

"You're not making things easier." he twisted his lips, turning away from him.

"I didn't think I was going to say it, but I miss him. At least in this moment." he continued, leaning his back on the door. "Where's Raj?"

Howard took a step forward just to face him, putting both his hands in his trousers' pockets. "He's helping out with the acceptance and I was going to call you for this."

"You're right, let's go." he breathed, looking at his reflection in the mirror for the last time. "Let's do this."

"Sheldon will arrive on time. He wouldn't give up his best friend's wedding."

* * *

" _There are some things I desperately need which only a woman has experience about."_ Amy could hear those words all in her head. They travelled through her mind and repeated over and over again, without letting her calm down.  
 _Has she really heard was she thought she did?_  
Sheldon and Amy have been sitting on the staircase for a while; they didn't talk that much, at least Amy was happy for having started a conversation with him. At first sight he didn't look like a guy who liked flirting with girls – actually, she hadn't figured out yet what kind of guy he was.  
But now...truth be told, if he wanted to hook her up, then she had her.

"S-sorry?" she breathed, letting go the small part of tissue of her dress she was clutching before. Her eyes irreparably fell over his lips which uttered that low sexy sound before.  
Sheldon looked at her oddly behaving and got worried for a moment.

"Is everything alright?" he asked.

"W-what...oh yes, I meant...what did you say?"

"I said is everything alrigh-"

"Before that." she interrupted him, swallowing once more.

Sheldon took a second to think about it and when he regathered the words on his mind he started over "I said there are some things I need which only a woman can help me out to...be satisfied about."

Amy blushed. She was listening to him and now she was quite sure to have not made those words up by her own. She actually _heard_ him saying that.

"Do you mean…?" she tried to utter something but all it seemed to come out of her mouth was a rasping sound.

"I guess you don't know what I mean. There are a lot of things a woman can do, I'll just need a little time to figure out what's better for me to make _you_ do." he highlighted the word "you" as if he wanted to point out he was just referring to her and then quickly checked the hour on his watch grasping her arm. "Time to go now." he squeaked, getting up and taking one side of the harp with both of his hands.

Amy looked at her arm with her eyes wide open and remained breathless. Once again that guy took her breath away in such a short time and she didn't have enough time to analyze the situation. She was struggling with her emotions, a whirl of feelings anchoring to her lungs, her brain, her throat preventing her from speaking. She was defenseless but, at the same time, full of energy.  
But, most of all, she was frightened because she never faced anything similar to what she was experiencing that morning.

"Yes." she whispered as she got up from the staircase and reached him.

 _Come on Amy, he just grabbed your arm. Don't be pathetic._

* * *

"Oh boy." Sheldon muttered when he checked his phone for the first time in a while. He was so involved in helping Amy he didn't think about switching it on. They finally succeeded in bringing the harp down the stairs and putting it into the trunk and now it was time for them to head for the ceremony.  
The neuroscientist who was driving, suddenly rolled over to face him.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Leonard called me 9 times. My phone was turned off. But why? We're on time. It's still 12:05"

"I can speed up if you want to." she suggested, waiting for the traffic light to turn green.

"Yes, but please follow the highway code. I've already been to prison for that."

"To prison?!" Amy almost fell off the seat. That day was becoming more and more unusual.

"Oh I haven't killed anyone while driving, I promise. I was riding Penny to hospital cause she got her shoulder broken and she forced me to hurry."

"Don't worry, I wouldn't want to end up in jail either" she chuckled, watching the road opposite them. "Then what happened?"

"Penny didn't pay the fine, so we got to the court and I tried to exonerate, but they locked me up until I apologized."

"Wait. They put you in jail for this? Are they nuts?!" she laughed out loud, drumming her hands on the steering wheel.

"Well, Penny told me I could've been more polite, but that's her point. Hey, does it make you laugh?" he frowned staring at her, while she tried to muffle her laughter.

"I'm sorry but...I found it really funny. Not in a bad way! That's...I mean that's...cute." she blushed as she shyly whispered it.

Here we go again.  
That wasn't the first time she felt that way during that morning. She was staring to blame herself for she was feeling really inappropriate. The fear of being caught while blushing, giggling, wincing anytime he told something was influencing her. She wasn't supposed to feel that way about a man; she was an all grown up independent woman, devoted to her work and – of course, to science.  
Anyway that time her brain seemed to be the only one who wasn't working the way he was supposed to.  
Truth be told, she was feeling well. She was totally involved in that conversation and she shouldn't have felt sorry about that: that was called "being happy" and maybe that was also the only thing she needed to stop overthinking.

"Amy?" Sheldon called her out once again for she was staring motionless at the windshield. She suddenly woke up and speed up when she saw the light which now was green.

"I'm sorry I was absent minded for a moment." she confessed, biting her lips and wishing she didn't blush again.

 ** _12:17 pm._**  
It was no more raining but the black clouds on the sky forecast the imminent storm.

Most of the guests had arrived and were standing outside the building chatting with one another, without noticing the black sky over their heads. Sheldon and Amy quit the parking lot – this time they luckily succeeded in finding a comfortable place, and opened the trunk to carry the harp on the inside.  
There were so many people crowded outside they didn't even think about crossing the street while carrying the harp for it would've been uncomfortable; so they chose to circumvent the building to reach the back door.

"Guess we have to wait til Leonard shows up." Sheldon breathed while he tried to push the harp against the wall of the big building.  
Amy leaned her back on the same wall and closed her eyes for a moment. She was already tired since her high heels were hurting so bad and so did her legs.

"Can we just bring it in? We can do that, we climbed so many staircases before." she rolled over just to see him sneaking his head in to figure out where that door leaded to. "No way." he said. "Too many stairs. I'm calling Leonard."

"Alright." the woman replied, sighing and looking up at the sky. "Hope he hurries up."

 ** _12:28pm._**

It was almost the time. All the people crowded on the outside started to enter the church, careful not to get wet in anyway possible.

Leonard, who was standing behind one of the doors, spied on the room filling up with people more and more. He swallowed for the hundredth time in that morning and then looked away. _He had to calm down_.

No Sheldon, no Amy to play the harp, the ceremony was about to start in five minutes and he was left all alone once again. Howard and Raj stayed with Leonard until they put their eyes on a cute girl passing by and started competing for her like two childish dudes.  
If Sheldon had been there, none of these problem would have occurred.  
How could he even calm down now?

Then something finally happened; his phone started ringing from the inside of his pocket. He got his hand on the right pocket and quickly grabbed his phone, careful not to drop it since he was shaking.  
When he read Sheldon's name on the display he smiled but then suddenly bit his lip, feeling a little confused about how he was supposed to feel. Upset for not having received any phone call in a while? Happy for finally hearing him?

"Sheldon, God, I've been calling you for hours!" he scolded him.

"Well, technically it's been less then one hour...anyway, Amy and I need help with the harp. We're on the back of the building. I suggest you to be quick since they're about to start the ceremony"

"I'm coming, Stay there."

* * *

"Oh no, again."  
Amy was staying motionless, her back leaning on the wall, staring and the gray stormy sky hosting those imposing black clouds. Her wide open green eyes met that creepy but beautiful panorama, as if they were gently framing that magic picture. Her pleasing view was interrupted by a tiny raindrop falling down on her nose, and by another one falling on her cheek, and again on her eyes.  
The rain restarted falling and suddenly got thicker; this prompted them to find a safe shelter.

"Let's go inside." Sheldon suggested, heading for the door he opened before, but when he tried to open it, he found out it was locked up.

"Damn. Not now please." Sheldon started kicking the wooden door, gnashing his teeth.

"What happens?" Amy turned around and tried to hit the door the more she could, trying to save her dress.

"Oh boy, not today!" the theoretical physicist shouted punching the door, leaning his hand on his hair which was already damp.

"Hey, hey stop it. Hurting yourself isn't gonna make things better. He's coming, we'll be safe. I'm sure he's bringing umbrellas." the neuroscientist approached him trying to calm him down. That wasn't an easy thing to do, since Sheldon hated getting wet in those kind of situations, but at least she tried. Her hand travelled down his shoulder, aiming to his bicep and caressing his arm, while her eyes met his with an encouraging look.

"Leave me!" he screamed, trying to pull her away while she took a step back, wincing and looking down.  
She left his arm to move her tiara away from her soaked hair and kept silent, without even gazing at him once again.  
The physicist looked at her face framed by her wet hair stick on her cheeks, he looked down at his beautiful bordeaux dress which now was skin tight for the amount of water it absorbed and, as the woman saw him take a step forward her, she looked away and dodged him.

"A-Amy you're soaked." he breathed.

"So are you." she shyly whispered then.

Without saying anything more, Sheldon carefully removed his jacket and put it over her shoulders, moistening his lips as he always did when he was focused.

The neurobiologist followed his gentle movements and merely smiled, taking a little step forward and slowly lifted her head to look him in the eyes.

"T-thank you." she murmured as she felt her cheeks blushing and heating up even under the pouring rain.  
Right in the moment Sheldon opened his mouth to reply, the sound of a familiar voice woke them up.

"Sheldon! Good lord guys you're soaked! Why haven't you entered that door?!" Leonard went towards them handing over his umbrella to cover them up. "Are you out of your minds? You cannot enter the church in this condition!"

"Do you think we didn't try to open that door? It's locked." Sheldon scolded him, drifting apart and violently grabbing the opened umbrella from him.

"OK guys calm down. It's my fault, I didn't want to mess things up, I should've bought a lighter harp so at this time we all would enjoy the wedding and-" Amy tried to make her point but she was suddenly interrupted by Leonard's hand which gently rested on her arm.

"It's not time for useless apologies, let's drag this thing inside and then we'll figure a way out to fix things up." He pointed Sheldon out to grasp the lower extremity of the instrument while he moved under his umbrella and removed his raincoat, offering it to the woman.

After she thanked him and put the coat on, Leonard followed the physicist's movements and raised the upper part, holding the only umbrella they had between his chin and his right shoulder.

"Amy, run inside and wait for us, tell Penny we had some problems but now we're okay."

"Are you sure I could-"

"Go!" they said simultaneously.

 ** _12:35 pm._**

Now was Penny's turn to go back and forth on the whole room she was occupying that morning. She didn't checked the hour yet, but she did know something went wrong. It was a strange feeling her heart was experimenting but she was too afraid to say it aloud, for it would have been too real.  
Bernadette stayed by her side, sitting on the small couch at the end of the room. She was playing with the border of her dress, humming a song.  
"Are you okay?" she squeaked with her acute sweet voice tone, when she looked up at Penny pacing the room.

"No. Something's wrong." she finally say it aloud, feeling a hard punch in her stomach.  
 _This wasn't good at all._ She thought.

Bernadette didn't make it in time to reply that someone excitedly opened the door. The two girls turned around at the same time towards the door and opened their mouths, looking at the most tragic and hilarious scene.  
Amy was standing on the door jamb, looking at them behind those geeky red glasses and she was _completely_ wet.  
Her long brown hair which was usually straight, now it was stick all over her face and her shoulders. Her beautiful satin dress was literally glued on her body, her heels were soaking as the rest of her body.  
She was holding her tiara, heavily breathing, trying to look at them without starting to cry.

"What. Happened." Penny asked, completely shocked.

As the neurobiologist looked up to face her, she wiped her nose with the back of her hands and fell over the ground, tightening in her soaked dress.

"W-what sweetie? What happens? Are you hurt?" Penny ran to her, followed by Bernadette and bent over her, lifting up her chin with her gentle touch.

"No, I'm not. I just…I'm so sorry for messing things up. I-I didn't want your wedding to end up like this...a wet useless bridesmaid and her stupid heavy harp.."

"Don't you even dare saying this Amy Farrah Fowler. You're not useless and neither does your harp. I'll help you to get changed. This wedding isn't going to start without my two beautiful girls." the bride encouraged her and lightly smiled for she saw her smirk.

"Let's go fix you up girl." Bernadette reached for her with her hand, pointing her out to grab it and get up.  
As Amy took her hand, she shook her hand. "There's no more time. Don't worry, I-I'll be fine..."

"You cannot enter the church in this condition!" Penny faced her, trying to persuade her.

"I said I'm fine! Your wedding must go on, who cares about my conditions?! Now go, Leonard's waiting for you."

"But-" Bernadette tried to talk back but she was interrupted by Amy's hand which placed on her cheek.

"I said nope. You're gonna fix me up after the ceremony." she said then, with the most firm and irremovable voice tone.

Penny nodded and quit the door, accompanied by the two bridesmaid. They headed for one of the main door behind whom there was her father, who greeted her with one of the brightest smile.

 _ **12:45 pm.**_

The door finally opened and showed the huge room filled up with people who now turned around just to look at the beautiful bride, standing one step away from the door jamb.  
Amy stared silently at the scene and bit her lip; she saw Leonard on the opposite part of the long hallway glance at Penny and almost faint over the floor, she saw every light and flower which adorned that beautiful room.

And then it happened.

She took a step forward following Bernadette, holding her small pink bouquet and looked around her: every single person who before was paying attention to Penny, now focused on how messy she looked. They stared at her figure with the most scornful glance, eyeing her from head to toes and twisting their lips.  
She was so vulnerable and so despised. She was shaking, clenching her bouquet and moving her eyes from side to side without knowing exactly where to look.

Amy suddenly looked at Penny and remembered she should've been playing the harp, but now everyone was focusing on her, even Sheldon who was next to Leonard and he seemed more settled than she was.

There was nothing left to do: the neurobiologist dropped the bouquet and ran away, without saying anything.

 _The rain continued pouring on the outside, and this time wouldn't stop at all._


End file.
